I don’t want to be ‘that person’ who is constantly beating the drum about all of the work that our team has to do, but I just spent the last few hours laying out all of the activities that a solid People team should be involved in — mapping the Inputs, Outputs, and How/Tools/Channels that People can use to execute against a hypothetical Employee Lifecycle.

My conclusion is that it’s a lot.  (See below or here.)

I’m including the below as a reference to anyone who is new to People, and who might want some help in thinking through all of the pieces.  One can select a step of the Lifecycle and reference a ‘checklist’ of activities / content that they may want to institute to support employees at that step.  It’s not super comprehensive, and is missing a huge chunk of People team work (all of the back-channel syndication, 1:1 conversations, consensus-building behind each item), but might be helpful as a general guideline.

I considered highlighting the ‘high impact’ and ‘high time sink’ activities, but have run out of steam.  Would also be super-interesting to develop metrics for each of these steps, based on the ideal outcomes.

Maybe later.

And… here are responsibilities that are independent of an employee lifecycle:

Core HR:

Review and decide on benefits offering + answer questions + handle annual Open Enrollment
Handle payroll, including for exempt / non-exempt and hourly / salaried
Handle immigration and mobility
Maintain an organized HRIS and filing system that is compliant with regulations (PHI, etc.)
Handle employment filings such as EEOC, ACA, FLSA, FMLA, financial audits, etc. in line with Compliance requirements
Tailor offerings based on state and local laws

Culture / Community:  

Vet and oversee internal communications across the company, including gatekeeping mass emails
Arrange social events for the company (holiday party, summer party, Hackathons, happy hours, etc.)
Keep an eye out for organizational changes to improve workplace productivity

Employee Relations/Policies:

Be responsive to employee requests, especially those dealing with sensitive employee relations topics (harrassment, discrimation)
Conduct training such as harassment, discrimination, financial regulations
Act as liaison with employment counsel and respond to changes as needed, e.g., NYS sick days; parental leave policies; etc.

Planning / Reporting:
Collaborate with Execs and leaders to translate company goals into hiring plans and headcount budget
Create reports and dashboards for Execs to know how things are going on the People side